Preliminary study for non – invasive optical detection of squamous and basal cell carcinomas

Abstract

Abstract Background The early detection of skin cancer may highly increase the chances of its healing. One of the non-invasive methods of such detection based on the Oblique- Incidence Diffuse Reflectance (OIDR) measurements of the reflected diode laser light from the skin. In this research we designed and implemented the OIDR reflectometry measuring system with a 650 nm diode laser source to aid physicians in diagnosing both squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and basal cell carcinomas(BCC). Method The laser is delivered obliquely to the skin surface by an optical fiber fitted through a tube holder of CCD camera. The diffused reflected laser light from the skin is captured by the CCD camera and sent to a computer, which is supplied by a specially prepared Matlab program to analyze these images in order to decide in a time whether the lesion is malignant or benign. Fifty cases were diagnosed under supervision of the consultant section of The Governmental Specialized Marjan Teaching Hospital – MOH – Iraq. Result The fifty diagnosed cases by this technique, the results were 90% accurate. Conclusion The method of laser oblique-incidence diffuse reflectance (OIDR) combined with using the developed algorithms that have high classification rates may prove useful in the clinic as the process is fast, noninvasive and accurate.

Keywords

• Skin cancer detection
• Diffusion theory
• Oblique incidence diffuse reflectance
• Reflectometry